


Forty-Eight Years

by westwingfanfictioncentral_archivist



Category: The West Wing
Genre: Episode: s07e19 Transition, F/M, Humor
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-10-28
Updated: 2010-10-28
Packaged: 2019-05-30 09:08:02
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,334
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15093608
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/westwingfanfictioncentral_archivist/pseuds/westwingfanfictioncentral_archivist
Summary: Donna and Josh have the talk while they're on vacation, kind of.





	Forty-Eight Years

**Author's Note:**

> A copy of this work was once archived at National Library, a part of the [ West Wing Fanfiction Central](https://fanlore.org/wiki/West_Wing_Fanfiction_Central), a West Wing fanfiction archive. More information about the Open Doors approved archive move can be found in the [announcement post](http://archiveofourown.org/admin_posts/8325).

He kissed her one more time and rolled off of her, landing on his back on the very corner of the bed and taking most of the sheet with him. She turned her head to look at him there, disheveled and panting slightly as he stared up at the ceiling. A few more breaths and he stretched his arms over his head and looked back at her with a grin. She gave him a lazy smile in return. “How did you convince me to do that?”

“Which part?” he asked, wiggling his eyebrows.

She shook her head at him. “The staying in bed until almost noon part.”

“Ahh,” he said, rolling onto his side and running a finger lightly down her arm. “I think it was the thing I did with my tongue.”

“Which thing?”

“The second thing.”

She closed her eyes as a slight flush came over her cheeks. “Yeah, that was it.”

He leaned over and kissed her neck. “I could do that again,” he growled into her ear.

She let him kiss her for a few seconds, contemplating his offer, then pushed herself away from him with a hand on his chest. “Later,” and she really meant that. “I’m starving and I want to go check out the beach.”

“We have all week for the beach,” he said, coming closer again. She smiled, but climbed out of bed before he could get to her, and he groaned and rolled onto his back. “Next time I’m taking you to Indiana.”

She looked back at him lying in bed with a confused look on her face. “Indiana?”

“So there’s nothing to do but stay in bed.”

“Ahh… of course.” She leaned over and kissed him quickly. “I’m taking a shower,” she said before walking naked towards the bathroom.

He propped himself up on his elbows and watched her. “Why are you showering? We’re just going to get into the fish-filled ocean.” 

“We’re getting food first and I smell like you,” she shrugged and closed the bathroom door behind her as he mumbled something about whether or not that was a bad thing.

She pulled back the shower curtain and turned on the water, stretching her neck and yawning. When a cloud of steam started permeating through the bathroom, she climbed inside and sighed at the feel of the hot water on her back. She tilted her head back and let the water run over her face and hair. Heaven.

“I’ve figured something out,” she heard a minute later as Josh walked into the bathroom.

“Close the door,” she said over the sound of the water.

“What?”

“Close the door. You’re letting out all the hot air.”

“I’m what?”

She poked her head out of the shower curtain. “Would you just close the door?” she asked in an exasperated voice.

His eyes widened and he closed the door.

“Thank you,” she said letting the curtain close.

She was lathering shampoo in her hair a moment later when he walked over and pulled back the shower curtain, ogling her wet naked body with a toothbrush sticking out of his mouth. 

“Yes?” she asked, resisting the urge to cover herself.

“Nothing,” he said, staring at her chest. He stared for another few seconds, then looked her in the eyes and smirked before walking over to the sink to spit and rinse. “So anyway, I figured something out.”

“Which frightens me.”

“We have to make up for almost ten years of no sex.” 

She laughed to herself. “You haven’t had sex in ten years?” she asked in obviously fake shock.

“You think you’re funny.”

“Why in the hell were you with Amy if it wasn’t for the sex?” she asked, rinsing the shampoo from her hair. “Surely it wasn’t for the company.” 

“Are you having fun?”

Yes, as a matter of fact, she was. ”And Mandy?” she continued with a grin on her face that he couldn’t see. “I always assumed she had to be absolutely incredible in bed for you put up with her.”

“She was quite something.” 

“Hey,” Donna yelled, ripping back the shower curtain. Men weren’t allowed to say things like that, even if the woman in question was indeed incredible and the woman asking was only fishing for information, which she would only partially admit to doing. 

He was leaning against the sink smirking at her. “You done?” he asked with humor in his voice.

Having lost the battle, she resisted the urge to stomp her foot and instead stuck her tongue out at him and closed the shower curtain, going back to her shower.

“Anyway,” he said as if he was never interrupted. “We have to make up for almost ten years of no sex... with each other.” 

“We have to?” she asked, squeezing conditioner into her palm.

“Yes, otherwise we’ll be unbalanced.”

Since he couldn’t see her, she allowed a smile at his absurdity. “We wouldn’t want to be unbalanced.”

“No.”

“So your plan is…”

“We have twice as much sex as normal for the next ten years,” he said.

Hmm… she was half inclined to read something into that statement. “Nine years…” 

“I’m rounding up. It makes the math easier.”

“Ok, fine.” She could think of worse ways to spend the next ten years. Many, many worse ways.

“Plus I’m going to need ten extra years of regular sex on top of that.”

“You are?”

“Yeah. For Calley, Commander Wonderful and Heathcliff,” he said as if it was a given.

“What?”

“Men that you’ve… I’m gonna need extra time for that.”

She laughed and rinsed the conditioner from her hair. “I hate to tell you, but they aren’t the…”

“Yes they are,” he said abruptly, cutting her off.

She grinned behind the curtain. “They are?”

“Yes.”

“Ok, whatever. You need ten extra years for that?” 

“Yes.”

She wasn’t sure they were worth ten days, much less ten years, but whatever. “Done.”

“Done?”

“Yes,” she said nodding. “But I’m going to need fifteen years.”

“Fifteen?”

“Mandy, Amy and Joey Lucas.”

“Joey Lucas?” he squeaked.

“The intent was there even if you never found the nerve.”

“There was no intent!”

She pulled the edge of the curtain back and looked at him. He was turned towards her, wide-eyed and half-shaven. “None?” she asks doubtfully.

He tilted his head. “A pondering, maybe.”

“That counts. Plus Amy counts twice and was painful to not only you, but to me as well.”

He winced and looked down at the floor, obviously having nothing to say in response to that. Happy that she’d won this battle, she let the curtain close and picked up her body wash. 

“So… thirty-five years,” he said, and she figured it was then that he’d realize what he’d been saying this whole time and start quickly backpedaling. 

“Yep.” 

“Plus any additional years we need to add between now and then.”

She froze in the shower. That wasn’t backpedaling. “Additional years?”

“I’m going to need an extra year every time a man flirts with you.”

Were they…. Certainly they weren’t having the talk. Were they? While she was in the shower??? “Well, then…” she said with uncertainty in her voice. “I’m going to need one every time a woman flirts with you.”

“That seems fair.”

She was starting to freak herself out, so she did the only thing she could think to do. She went for banter. “But when we reach the end of the deal I’m leaving you cause you’ll be an old man.”

He pulled back the shower curtain and leaned in to kiss her, ignoring that one side of his face and shoulder were pelted with water. “That’s fine. I’ll be too old to care by then anyway.” 

Then he walked out of the bathroom and left her standing there staring at the sage shower curtain.

**********

She dropped their bag of towels, sun block, and reading materials down onto a chaise lounge then turned around to watch him, walking strangely and slowly towards her.

“I don’t know how you’re supposed to walk through this stuff wearing these,” he mumbled to himself as he reached her.

“By this stuff you mean sand, and by these things you mean flip flops?”

“They keep falling off my feet,” he said, moving the other lounge so it was completely underneath their umbrella.

“Yesterday you complained because your gym shoes got sand in them.”

“Yes.” 

“So last night we bought you flip flops.”

“Yes,” he said, sitting down and kicking off the flip flops in question.

“And yet you’re still complaining.”

He looked up and waved one at her. “These have sand in them too.” 

“You’re on the beach, Josh. You’re going to get sand places.”

He looked at his hands in disgust. “Apparently.”

She shook her head and pulled out a book from the bag. “Here,” she said, handing it to him. “Read.”

“I don’t like this book.”

“Because it’s fiction.”

“Yes.”

“And you’d rather be reading something that made some sort of difference to someone somewhere in the world.”

“You’re mocking me now.”

“Yes. Read.”

“Fine.” 

She watched as he situated himself with his feet up and his t-shirt acting as a pillow. Once he was comfortable, he sighed and opened the book to the earmarked place he left off at the day before. With him somewhat settled, she stood and took off her cover-up. 

“You’re taking that off again?” he screeched, looking up at her.

“Yes, Josh. I’m taking off the cover-up.”

“You’re practically naked under that thing!”

“I’m not practically naked. I’m wearing a bathing suit. A bathing suit that isn’t the least bit revealing.”

He gave her a look that said he disagreed with that statement. “At least cover up your legs with it.”

“Josh…”

He looked around. “Fine, but I got two extra years yesterday.”

“Those guys weren’t flirting with me; they were just looking at me.”

“It still counts.” 

“Read.”

“Fine.”

She leaned back, adjusting her hat to keep the sun out of her eyes. Looking out at the ocean, she took a deep breath of fresh air and then picked up her book and started to read. Heaven.

When she hadn’t heard a peep out of him for almost ten minutes, she looked over at him expecting to see him asleep. But there he sat, arms propped up behind his head, looking out at the ocean from behind his sunglasses. She watched him for several seconds until he glanced over at her and grinned. He didn’t hate this near as much as he wanted her to think he did. She smiled back at him and went back to her book.

“You know,” she heard about five minutes later. “It’s going to be tough to keep up the double sex pace when we get back to DC and have to work.”

She looked over at him but he was once again reading. “When we can’t stay in bed until noon?” 

“Right. Although… we could schedule sex in my office a few times a week…”

“Dream on,” she deadpanned. 

He looked over at her, lowering his sunglasses slightly and raking his eyes down her scantily clothed body. “I imagine I’ll have that dream for years to come, yes.” 

She shook her head but couldn’t help the smile on her face.

“But you just proved my point,” he went on as went back to his book. “If we aren’t having sex at the office, the only way we’re going to be able to fit it all in is to be available to each other pretty much all other times.”

She turned her page and continued reading. “Mmm…”

 

“Say you wake up in the middle of the night and you can’t get back to sleep and so you figure we might as well go ahead and get some sex out of the way. You’d have to get dressed and get in your car and drive over…” 

“And hope you’re ok with me waking you in the middle of the night for sex…”

He tilted his head. “Don’t be ridiculous, of course I’ll be ok with it.”

This made her chuckle. “So that ten minute drive to your place would be inconvenient, is what you’re saying.”

“You might have completely lost the mood by the time you get there,” he said and turned a page. “Unless…” he said casually. “What if… I don’t know… what if we lived closer to each other somehow?”

“Closer? How much closer?”

“Well…” He looked up at the ocean and then back at his book. “What if we were living in the same place?”

Her eyes widened and her mouth fell open. This was… did he just ask her… they were having the strangest conversations this week. She stared at him for several seconds, but his head was buried in the book he didn’t even like. Taking a few deep breaths, she told her heartbeat to slow down. “In the same place…”

On the surface he looked casual, but she could see his knuckles turning white from holding the book in his hands so tightly. “I’m thinking that logistically, that would make the most sense,” he said, his eyes still glued to his book. 

“Logistically speaking,” she said with a shaky voice and a racing pulse. “I guess it would.”

“And the twitchy chick’s already at your place...” 

She took another deep breath, slightly worried she might vomit. “Right…” 

“So I guess it would make the most sense to just go ahead and do it as soon as possible.”

“Well…” Holy crap, she was moving in with Josh. “I mean… we’re not idiots. If that’s what makes the most sense, that’s what we should do.”

He looked at her then, a huge grin on his face even as his sunglasses blocked his eyes. It was quiet for a second and then he stood up and tossed his book in the general vicinity of their beach bag. “I’m going to find something better than that crap to read.” He leaned over and kissed her deeply, then walked off through the sand. 

********** 

It was the first time since they’d arrived that they’d crawled into bed wearing pajamas, or boxers in Josh’s case. The day had been long and tiresome and she was glad he was on the same page as her and hadn’t attempted something that she was too exhausted to participate in.

But strangely enough, it was a first for them. It was the first time they’d gone to bed together without having sex. And when she rolled onto her side facing away from him a few minutes after they got into bed, it was the first time he followed her and spooned up behind her. His bare chest against her back and strong arms around her waist were what she’d been waiting for, she just hadn’t known it. She snuggled back into him a little and he held her even closer. Heaven. 

She was nearly asleep, in that place where consciousness and dreams meet, when he tangled his legs with hers and spoke quietly. “You know, it occurs to me that somewhere over the next thirty-seven years …”

“Thirty-eight,” she mumbled.

“Yes,” he said with a chuckle and no doubt a smirk. “She was definitely flirting.”

Donna elbowed him lightly. “And you did nothing to dissuade her.”

“Why would I? I got an extra year out of it.”

“Mmm…” she said doubtfully. “It didn’t have anything to do with her…” 

His left hand began to drift up her stomach. “Her what, Donna?” he asked teasingly.

“You know very well what.”

The traveling hand cupped one breast from below. “I like yours better,” he said in that gravelly voice of his that made her a little woozy even though he was being a pig.

She buried her head a little deeper into her pillow. “Good, cause you’re stuck with them for the next thirty-eight years.”

His hand drifted back down to her stomach and stayed there, his thumb brushing circles over her tank top, quickly lulling her to sleep. 

“But I’m thinking,” he mumbled into her shoulder. “That somewhere over the next thirty-eight years, we might have… it’s possible, probable even…” he stopped and took a deep breath. “There may be some sort of birth control mishap.”

Her eyes popped open and she was suddenly wide awake. It took her several seconds to find her voice. “Umm… well… that’s… pretty realistic, I guess.”

He shifted behind her. “And that wouldn’t… be the end of the world, I guess. Would it?”

She started to turn to look at him, but he tightened his arms around her, keeping her where she was. “No,” she said, imagining a blonde curly-headed little boy wearing a baseball mitt running circles around her while she tried to make dinner. “It wouldn’t be the end of the world.” 

“There wouldn’t be too many mishaps though, right?” he asked with a hint of panic to his voice.

She smiled slightly at that, the edge to his voice easing her own nerves. “I wouldn’t think so, no. How many… mishaps… would you estimate we’ll have?”

There was a lengthy pause before he answered and she wished she could see his face. But she’d finally figured out that there was a reason these conversations were happening with some sort of barrier between them and if he needed that little bit of protection, she could go along with it. So instead of looking back at him, she put her hand over the one he had on her stomach and laced their fingers together. 

“One… maybe two?” he finally said.

She relaxed even more. “That sounds about right. We’re moderately intelligent people. I think we should be able to keep from having more mishaps than that.”

She could feel him exhale against her neck. “Yeah?”

“Yeah.” And then an evil thought occurred to her. “There are doctors you can visit to help ensure no more than one or two mishaps.”

“Doctors?”

“Sure. A few snips…”

“Donna!” She started laughing then, she couldn’t help it. He flipped her onto her back and stared down at her with an appalled face. “You’re an evil person!” 

She picked her head up and kissed him, still laughing. The discussion, she thought, warranted a kiss. 

“You’re distracting me!” he accused, pulling back from her. “Snips???” 

She shrugged. “You’re in, you’re out. No big deal.”

He flopped down onto his back next to her and looked down at his lap for a good minute, his face going from fear to disgust to defiance and finally to resignation. He sighed loudly. “Ok, but I’m going to need five more years if I’m going to …” he stopped and gulped heavily. 

“Get snipped?”

“Don’t say it out loud like that!”

She couldn’t wipe the smile off her face. “Five more years, huh?”

He turned his head and looked at her. “You’re getting off easy with five years, Donna,” he said sternly.

She grinned. “Ok, it’s a deal.” 

He nodded crisply and gave her a quick chaste kiss. 

“You know,” she said in a low voice while tracing his ear with her finger. “I’m not as tired as I was when we got into bed.” 

His eyebrows shot up. “Donna, we were just talking about snipping. My guy’s down for the night.”

She didn’t respond except to throw a leg over him and straddle his waist. She smiled seductively and then kissed his neck before starting her way down his chest and stomach.

“Donna, I really don’t think…” he hissed as her teeth grazed his pelvic bone. “Well, maybe he can be persuaded.”

********** 

They were walking along a string of stores in the main shopping area after lunch when he grabbed her hand and started pulling her towards a souvenir shop. “Let’s go in here.”

“This one just has t-shirts and stuff,” she said as they walked in the door. “Let’s go over to the outdoor market with the local crafts and the art.”

“We need to get Sam a t-shirt,” he said, walking further into the store. He stopped in front of a bunch of snow globes and grinned like a kid. “Or a sailboat snow globe.”

“A sailboat snow globe? That doesn’t seem a bit ironic to you?”

“Sam likes sailboats.” 

“In the snow,” she finished.

He picked up one and pointed to it. “It says St. Thomas on it. I need to get him something. He made me come here.”

“And nothing says thanks like a sailboat snow globe,” she teased.

“Who says I want to thank him?” 

She studied him for a few seconds. “You look five years younger than you did a week ago, you got some much-needed vitamin D from the sun, you ate leisurely healthy meals, you haven’t even mentioned Barry Goodwin, and you’ve gotten more sleep this week than you did all of last year. I think you want to thank him.”

He pulled her in front of him and rested his chin on her shoulder. “Please?” he asked in a puppy dog voice.

She tried but failed not to smile. “Fine. You can get the sailboat snow globe. But we should look for something else too. Something his fiancée might not have to hide in a closet.”

He kissed her neck. “He can keep it in his office.”

She turned around in his arms and gave him a chaste kiss on the lips. “Cause nothing says serious political operative like a sailboat snow globe.”

“Right,” he said, grabbing her hand and walking towards the cash register. 

“Happy now?” she asked a few minutes later as they walked out of the store. 

“Yes,” he said idly while trying to shove the shopping bag down into her purse.

“Hey, let me carry that for you,” she deadpanned.

Once the bag was safely in her purse, sticking out of the top and making it impossible to zip, he laced their fingers and started walking again.

“Let’s go to the market now,” she said in an excited voice.

“In a little bit,” he said as they walked down the street. “I want to go into a few more stores here first.”

“Josh…” she pouted. “It’s our last day. I want to go to the market.”

“Just a few more. Then we can go to your precious market and I won’t even complain.”

“Yeah, right,” she huffed. “What else do want to buy over here anyway?”

He shrugged. “I don’t know. Stuff.”

They wandered idly down the street with the few tourists who were there on the non-port day. It was quiet and nice and she found herself looking out at the ocean where the cruise ships normally docked. Occasionally, they’d stop at a window and Josh would look inside, but she didn’t pay much attention. It was just nice to walk slowly with him for once.

“Do you think the mishaps could get confused some day?”

She looked over. “I’m sorry. Was that English?”

“The… you know,” he said with a head tilt. “The mishaps. Once we have them…”

“Once we have them,” she said with a chuckle, “I’m not sure we should refer to them like that.” 

“So noted, but I still think there might be some confusion.”

“We’ll teach them about the constitution,” she said, putting her head on his shoulder as they walked. “It’ll be fine.”

“No, although yeah, we will have to do that. But… what about our names. Don’t you think our names might confuse them?”

She stood up straight again. “Our names?”

He stopped walking and turned to face her. “My last name is Lyman, yours is Moss. That could confuse a… mishap.”

Her eyes widened to the point of almost falling out of her head and she was glad he wasn’t the only one wearing sunglasses. “I uh…” and her voice was shaking, damn it. “I guess it could.”

And he must’ve heard it in her voice, because suddenly he was grinning at her. “If only there was something we could do which would change one of our last names to match the other. Some sort of legal action we could take to make sure we all have the same last name.”

There was a joke there somewhere about him changing his last name… or something along those lines, but she was in a daze and couldn’t think of it. “We all…” 

He picked up her hand. “You, me, the mishaps…”

“Right.” She took a deep breath. They were going to be a family.

“Donna,” he said quietly.

“You’re wearing sunglasses,” she blurted out. She wasn’t sure why, but she needed to see his eyes. 

He was still for a second and then took them off. “Donna…”

“Yes?” she breathed out.

“I know what else I want to buy before we go to the market.”

What? “What?”

He smirked at her confusion. “Let’s go look for something in there,” he said, nodding towards a store behind her.

She stared at him for another second, eyebrows knitted together, then turned around and looked. They were standing in front of a jewelry store; a really nice looking jewelry store. She slowly turned her head back to him. “You want to…?”

He nodded. “Would that be ok with you?”

“I uh…” she turned around and looked at the store again as a tear slipped out of her eye and down her cheek. “Sure,” she said weakly, turning back to face him again. “I could… I could look for something in there.”

He pulled her sunglasses off her pink nose. “You’re sure?” he whispered, wiping her cheek with his thumb.

She nodded several times, a slow smile coming over her face even as another tear slid down her cheek. “Yeah, I’m sure. But… I think I’m gonna need five more years.”

He laughed then and leaned down to kiss her. “Five more years, huh? For what?”

She kissed him again, lingering softly against his lips, then pulled him into a hug and buried her face in his neck. “No reason. I just want them.”

“Ok,” he sighed into her hair. “They’re yours.”


End file.
